In the Oct. 14 SN: 2017’s scientists to watch, duel over a real-life Brienne of Tarth, the origin of ultrahigh energy cosmic rays, long-lasting spheres of color, watermelon snow’s downside, support for the Unruh effect, polite robots and more.

Innovative nonprofits receive $20,000 in STEM Action Grants

The Society for Science & the Public is proud to support organizations that encourage a love of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) in their communities with our STEM Action Grants Program. We are excited to demonstrate this support by providing a total of $20,000 in STEM Action Grants to five innovative nonprofits that are sparking a lifelong interest in STEM among members of underrepresented populations. These organizations use unique programming to inspire students of all backgrounds to pursue careers in STEM.

CODeLLA (Miami) works to inspire Hispanic middle school girls to enter STEM fields and helps girls build pathways and skills to meaningfully engage in a 21st century global economy. The grant will fund podcasting equipment CODeLLA will use to produce weekly STEM news podcasts in Spanish and English by and for the girls.

Electric Girls (New Orleans) is dedicated to transforming girls into technology leaders during summer camps, after-school programs, in-school programs, one-day workshops and weekend programs. The funding will be used to purchase materials and pay instructors to teach circuit building at four after-school sites in New Orleans in fall 2017.

Learn Fresh (Denver) aims to improve student engagement and achievement, particularly among low-income students of color, through innovative, fun and effective educational tools. Learn Fresh’s primary program is NBA Math Hoops, a basketball board game and supplemental math curriculum that uses real statistics about professional basketball players. The funding will support a pilot project that would adapt the NBA Math Hoops board game for football with a game and program called “First and 10.” The program is being developed with the help of the Denver Broncos.

LITAS for Girls (Scottsdale, Ariz.) guides and inspires middle school girls to pursue computer science and STEM careers through incubators that encourage the girls to code with purpose. The funding will support LITAS summer incubators, chapters and a technology showcase. LITAS is led by Anvita Gupta, a 2015 alumna of the Intel Science Talent Search and 2013 alumna of the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair — programs founded and produced by the Society.

ProjectCSGIRLS (Potomac Falls, Va.) works to close the gender gap in computer science and technology through a national computer science competition for middle school girls. The funding supported a national gala that took place in coordination with the 2017 competition held in June. The organization is headed by Pooja Chandrashekar, a 2015 alumna of the Intel Science Talent Search. This is the third grant ProjectCSGIRLS has received from the Society.